Why does typing sometimes lag when I'm writing a task?

[goncalomcorreia]

Continuation of discussion with @claremacrae started in: #697 (comment)

[goncalomcorreia]

Today obsidian isn't lagging at all, so it seems this issue is not consistent!

[claremacrae]

Hi @goncalomcorreia - as you are on a Mac, I suggest that you open the console and look at the output written by Tasks.

(For help accessing the console, see https://marcus.se.net/obsidian-plugin-docs/getting-started/plugin-anatomy#plugin-lifecycle)

You will see when Tasks detects changes in task lines.
And also when it refreshes Tasks results.

Both will show the related file names.

If you keep an eye on this, and look for patterns in when the performance slows down, it should give an idea of what is happening.

[Hatweeo]

@claremacrae I played a little around but how can I show information in the console? Is it the Mac console of browser (in my case Chrome) console? I also experience issues with lagging: modifying tasks isn't very fast / robust anyway, but when I'm working for number of minutes (<hour) then things get really slow :-( Not handy when you're in a meeting and need to add tasks / notes fast.

[claremacrae]

Hi @Hatweeo

how can I show information in the console?

There are lots of answers to this in the Obsidian forum, including:

https://forum.obsidian.md/t/how-to-access-the-console/16703

I have written up some notes in the Tasks Contributing guide about the console-related facilities in the plugin:

https://publish.obsidian.md/tasks-contributing/Debugging/About+Debugging

The typing lag will be caused by Tasks results being refreshed every two seconds when Obsidian auto-saves... You could try enabling the console timing facilities to see where the time is going in these refreshes - it will tell you which open Tasks queries are having the greatest impact on Obsidian performance. (It might be the sheer number open - or there might be one or two displaying a lot more tasks, for example.)

[Hatweeo]

Thanks @claremacrae I will dive into this :-)

[claremacrae]

One way to make it slow down really quickly is to:

Setup:

• create a number of files with Tasks blocks that show hundreds of tasks
• set your default editing mode to live preview
• open one of the new files
• then, without closing the first one, open a different one (so it is shown in the same pane, replacing the first one)
• do this a few more times, with the other files

Editing

• with the most recent file still open, edit a task somewhere else (perhaps by opening a note in a new window)
• you will see in the console that the task blocks are being refreshed in all the notes you had opened previously, that are no longer visible.

This only happens when Tasks blocks have been shown in Live Preview.
From debugging, I believe that it is a bug in Obsidian.

The workaround is to close all notes if performance bogs down. As when the pane is closed, Obsidian then forgets all the other earlier files you had open.

[tonyxiao]

Is this only auto complete related?

[claremacrae]

Impossible to say, with the information provided so far.

[goncalomcorreia]

Things are not slowing down at all recently, and I haven't changed my workflow. I'll let you know if it slows down and what the console says.

[claremacrae]

Brilliant. Thank you.